


heat

by betochavez



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Domestic, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 21:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4408814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betochavez/pseuds/betochavez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a hot California morning as newly-cohabitated Nijimura and Himuro learn more about each other, perhaps more than they care to. Somewhat a sequel my previous fic about Nijimura meeting Himuro in a bar (both can be standalone). T for some sexual innuendo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	heat

            Nijimura was in a mood. Though he had been teaching for a couple of years, it always felt strange for him to be relaxing, leaning back in his chair at the kitchen table, enjoying the sliver of California sunlight that glittered through the curtains warming his skin, on a _Monday_ , at _10 am_. But it was Memorial Day, which meant that everyone in the district had a day off, including Nijimura Shuuzo, even if he didn’t really feel like it. He was grading last Friday’s quiz at leisurely pace, stealing glances every few minutes at his boyfriend-of-four-months, Himuro Tatsuya, who sat across the table, sipping his coffee and perusing a _Sports Illustrated_ Nijimura felt _certain_ was the same exact issue Himuro had always read, and seemed to only read.

            “Is that the only reading material in the apartment?” Nijimura said, raising an eyebrow. It felt strange referring to what was once simply _Tatsuya’s_ apartment, now _the_ apartment, where they had been living together for about two weeks. “Don’t you get bored, reading the same thing over and over again?”

            Himuro took another sip. “My memory for stuff like this isn’t that great, so it feels like I’m reading a new magazine every time.”

            “Oh? Your memory isn’t great? I seem to recall a day in the distant past where I accidentally stepped on your foot and you groaned and moaned for the following three hours, stretching your foot whenever I made eye contact with you. You remembered _that_ well enough.”

            Himuro stifled a chuckle. “And so did you, mostly. But it was _four_ hours. It always amazes me how easily you see right through my tricks.”

            “That’s because I am always _seeing_ you. I know _all_ your tricks.”

            Himuro blushed, but his face didn’t show it. His ears tended to be the only part of him that gets red, which, of course, Nijimura knew about.

            Nijimura looked back down at his quizzes. He still felt like he was in a working mood, but couldn’t focus on his _students_ at the moment. “Tatsuya?”

            “Hmm?”

            “Remember how you mentioned wanting that manager position at the bar?”

            “Surprisingly, yes.”

            “Remember how I offered to tutor you in math to beef up your resume?”

            “I do, unfortunately.”

            “Well, today is your lucky day! Let’s get cracking.”

            Himuro dog-eared his magazine and set it down. He really wasn’t in the mood to do anything serious today, but it was hard to deny Shuu, especially when he looked so determined. And _hot_. Maybe if I read more books, Himuro mused, I would know the word that means “sexy via enthusiasm about basic algebra.”

            Nijimura picked up his chair and scooted closer to Himuro. He smelled like coffee and sleep. “I’m guessing that you’ll primarily need refreshers on bookkeeping math, like interest rates and the like.”

            “You know, math _was_ my best subject in high school. It’s not like you’re starting from scratch.”

            “I know. This has always just been a…a fantasy of mine.”

            “Excuse me?”

            “You know…for whatever reason someone _really_ needs to learn math or else the world will explode or something…and I tutor him and he says, ‘Oh, how can I _ever_ repay you…?’”

            Himuro placed his hand on Nijimura’s thigh. “We _could_ skip right to that second part.”

            Not to be swayed, Nijimura said, “Or we _could_ skip right to the part where you become manager.”

            Nijimura searched his prep books and flipped the section on bookkeeping. Nijimura explained the concepts Himuro would need concisely and succinctly, but Himuro kept his hand hovering just over Nijimura’s leg, occasionally brushing his fingers just over his knee.

            “Tatsuya, please pay attention.”

            “I _am_ paying attention. To the most important thing in front of me.”

            “You’re paying attention to _something_ , all right,” he said, placing Himuro’s hand back on top of the table.

            Nijimura was a good teacher, but Himuro was not a good student. Himuro was as equally in a _mood_ as Nijimura. A warm breeze made its way through the window, which softly blew Nijimura’s hair slightly askew. Himuro reached out and gently set Nijimura’s hair back in place.

            Nijimura threw his pencil down. “Look, if you don’t want my help, just tell me.”

            “Oh, but I _do_ want your help,” Himuro said, leaning in.

            Nijimura, in full _sensei_ mode, said “I’m starting to think you don’t actually _want_ the manager position.”

            Himuro’s eyes widened, slightly. “I do want it. It just doesn’t have to happen _now_. I don’t mind taking this slow.”

            “But it’s the _natural_ next step, right? Shouldn’t you want to try to get promoted as soon as possible? Someone as smart and personable as you—“

            “I like where I am now. I like mixing and serving people their drinks. I might get bored sitting behind a desk all day. After all, at the bar is where I met _you_.”

            Nijimura conceded. “It’s just…I’ve heard so much about you, in your high school days. When I talked to Murasakibara—“

            Himuro’s eyes widened, perceptibly. “You _talked_ to Murasakibara recently?”

            “Yeah. I keep in contact with all my old _kouhai_. Well, I usually have to contact _them_ … I just like to make sure they’re doing okay, after.... Anyway, we realized that we both know you, and he talked about how _irritating_ your determination to be the best was. I guess I was just…wondering where all that tenacity went.”

            Himuro tapped his foot. “If Murasakibara thought I was being irritating, I must have been doing something right. The ‘tenacity’ as you call it is still there, Shuu. It’s just not being _directed_ where _you_ think it should be directed. I just want to make the meanest strawberry daiquiri this side of the I-10.”

            Nijimura, though still unconvinced, despised nothing more than fighting with Himuro, so he endeavored to drive the conversation down a different road.  “Do you still talk to your _kouhai_?”

            “Ah, I’m not the best at keeping in contact. I haven’t talked to anyone at Yosen in years.”

            “What about college?”

            “Hmm?”

            “I mean, do you keep in contact with people you met in college?”

            “I didn’t go to college.”

            Recently, Nijimura remembered his hothead days of youth, and realized that he didn’t like himself as a person with a short temper and explosive emotions. Lately, he had taken up yoga in the evenings at the local gym, and even _tai-chi_ at the park Saturday mornings when he could wrest himself from Himuro’s vise-like morning-cuddle grip. But all of the downward-facing dog of the world could not have calmed his voice.

            “YOU DIDN’T GO TO COLLEGE?!”

            “Shuu, calm down, it’s not like I killed a man.”

            Nijimura could _not_ calm down. A bright boy, he was raised with the _expectation_ of attending higher education…once he got his life together, that is. He decided that he liked school _so much_ that he wanted to attend even _more_ school, and then spend the rest of his life in school, but this time, as the teacher. It…boggled the mind. Nijimura thought he knew _everything_ about Himuro, from his red ears, to which conditioner he used, to which seats in the movie theater he liked the best. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

            “Okay…okay. Then what did you do instead?”

            “Oh, you know. Took some time for myself. High school was just a whirlwind for me, emotionally. I…” Himuro stared at his coffee, which steamed only slightly. “I didn’t always like who I was, how I acted to the people I loved. I felt like I had let something…fleeting… define me. I…didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I just…climbed Mount Fuji.”

            “You _what_?”

            “Yeah, I just decided I needed to _do_ something. I just used my _people_ skills, made friends with some American tourists who were _delighted_ to have a real Japanese tell them folk tales as we ascended. I think I might have told them the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ story, but they thought it was beautiful and authentically Japanese. It’s hard to keep track, what’s American and what’s Japanese…”

            “Okay.” Said Nijimura, still trying to get his bearings. “You climbed Mount Everest, and _then_ you went to college.”

            “No. I didn’t go to college at all. And you say _I_ have poor memory.”

            “Well _then_ what did you do?”

            “Oh, I stayed in Japan for another year. Did a little bit of modeling.”

            Nijimura was not surprised.

            “Dated Kise Ryouta.”

            Nijimura was _very_ surprised.

            “You…dated Kise?”

            “Oh, sure. He’s quite cute and very smooth. When I was young I was very into that type. Don’t give me that look! Frumpy and nerdy is my type, now!”

            Nijimura scrunched his nose. “I am not frumpy.”

            “You always scrunch your nose when you know you’re lying.”

            Nijimura pouted.

            “This might sound kind of sick but…I love your pouting face. Sometimes I say things I know you wouldn’t like just so I can see it.”

            Nijimura wondered if this whole morning was just an exercise to get him to pout. Because _boy_ , was it working. He didn’t even fully understand why he was so upset. He was open-minded, right? Why should someone’s level of education matter? Especially someone he loved as much as Tatsuya?

            Himuro realized that he was gripping his mug _tight_. He unclasped his hand and stretched it. What’s gotten him in such a _mood_? What _happened_ this morning?

            Himuro decided that he should finish up his life story. “We only dated for a few weeks. Honestly, it was nothing serious. About a year or so later I packed up, moved back to California, did a personality quiz to determine what would be a suitable job for me, and got bartender. I went to bartending school, and got a job at the bar we both know so well. Then, I met you.”

            Did he just not get _accepted_ to any colleges? Surely, with his basketball abilities, he must have received _some_ opportunities. Was it his grades? Tatsuya _did_ only read the same magazine over and over again. Have I ever seen Tatsuya read a book? Nijimura wondered. Just who _is_ he?

            Himuro, perceptive as ever, noticed his puzzled expression. “Oh, come now,” Himuro said, “you’re not the type to not date someone just because he didn’t go to college, are you?”

            The hot breeze, the sunlight still bathing his bare arms, and the warmth emanating from Himuro who was sitting so so close, made Nijimura’s brain feel fuzzy, as if his psyche had been swaddled in a blanket.  “I mean, I just never have until now, that’s all.” The heat getting to him, Nijimura yawned and looked back at his ungraded quizzes, raising his eyebrows. He really had a lot to do…

            Himuro stood up and emptied his now-cold coffee into the sink. He went for his closet and put on pants over his boxers, and fumbled with the buckle, red, red hot.

            Nijimura looked up. “Where are you going?”

            “Work. My job. People without college can still get those, you know.”

            “Really? It’s Memorial Day. It’s 11 am. They need a bartender _now_?”

            “When you work in the service industry, you can have hours that may seem strange to those who work nine-to-five.”

            Nijimura remembered just a few days before, when he showed up at the school at 7 am, and didn’t leave until 7 pm. There was a final coming up, and everyone wanted help, even on a Friday. “Well, okay. Have fun. Make a mean daiquiri.”

            Himuro closed the door incredibly softly, the way he does when he needs to _cool off_. Nijimura was right, of course. He didn’t have work. He just needed to get out of that stuffy apartment. He felt positively _stifled_ , in all senses of the word. He felt his hand ball into a fist; he felt his arm rise up, as if to hit an invisible punching bag. He took a deep breath, and walked down the hall, down the stairs, and into his car. It was hot. It felt like he was in an oven. In a sense, he _was_ in an oven, one he had never been in before, one he didn’t know how to escape.

            Nijimura sweated. The warmth that he had felt previously, like a blanket, now felt like a boiling pot, ready to spill over. He used his shirt to wipe up the sweat on his face. He stood up, pushed the chair in with too much force, closed the window, closed the curtains, and sat in darkness. He pretended that sitting in the dark made him feel cooler, the same lie he fed his students on particularly oppressive June days when the AC was busted. He closed the prep books, and put them away tidily. He sat on Tatsuya’s— _their_ bed—and stared at the door, knowing that, in a few hours, Tatsuya would walk through it. Most likely.

            It was, Nijimura realized, hard to really know _anything_ for certain about Himuro Tatsuya.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this interpretation of Nijimura and Himuro isn't too offensive to anyone! Feel free to shoot me a message if you want to talk about it. Nijihimu is such an...idyllic ship, it was hard to think of something that would cause them to fight (not that I was TRYING to or anything...). Of course, they get past this, no problem--but it was interesting to think about their shared hot-headedness perhaps biting them in the butt. I think, if something would bother Nijimura about Himuro, him not going to college (my own headcanon) would be it.


End file.
